• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.3-26
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• 2007

This paper analyzes the effects of asymmetric reimbursement in a delegate model where the lawyers for a citizen and a polluting firm work on a contingent-fee basis. The major findings from the paper are as follows: (i) the asymmetric reimbursement triggers environmental conflicts by increasing the citizens' expected surplus; (ii) it enhances the possibility of settlement by decreasing the magnitude of expected loss less expected surplus; (iii) settlements reduce the total litigation effort levels, thus curtailing the rent dissipation; (iv) The total litigation effort levels increase if the conflicts result in trials rather than settlements.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.325-336
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• 2022

This paper analyzes the ground surface settlements induced by side-by-side twin shield tunnels bored in sedimentary soils, which primarily consist of sand with clay strata above the tunnel crown. The measurements were obtained during the construction of twin tunnels underneath the Incheon International Airport (IIA) located in Korea. The measured surface settlement troughs are approximated with Gaussian functions. The trough width parameters i and K of the settlement troughs produced by the first and second tunnel passings are determined, along with those for the total settlement trough. The surface settlement troughs produced by the first shield passing are reasonably represented by a symmetric Gaussian curve. The surface settlement troughs induced by the second shield tunnel display marginal asymmetric shapes at selected sections. The total settlement troughs are fitted both with a shifted symmetric Gaussian function and the superposition method utilizing an asymmetric function for the incremental trough produced by the second tunnel. It is revealed that the superposition method does not always produce better fits with the total settlement. Instead, the shifted symmetric Gaussian function is overall demonstrated to provide more favorable agreements with the recordings. Therefore, the shifted symmetric Gaussian function is recommended to be used in the design for the prediction of the settlement in clays caused by twin tunneling considering the simplicity of the procedure compared with the superposition method. The amount of increase in the width parameter K for the twin tunnel relative to that for the single tunnel is quantified, which can be used for a preliminary estimate of the surface settlement in clay induced by twin shield tunnels.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.453-462
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• 2023

Designing pile foundations subjected to the uplift forces such as buildings, oil platforms, and anchors is becoming increasingly concerned. In this paper, the conceptual design of a new type of driven piles called expanding pile is presented and assessed. Some grooves have been created in the shaft of the novel pile, and some moveable arms have been designed at the pile tip. At first, static analyses using the finite element method were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the innovative pile on the axial bearing capacity. Then its effect on seismic behavior of moment frame is considered. Results show that the expanding arms were provided an ideal anchorage system because of the soil's noticeable locking-up effect increasing uplift bearing capacity. For example at the end of the static tensile loading procedure, displacement decrement up to 55 percent is observed. In addition, comparing the uplift bearing capacity of the usual and new pile with different lengths in sand and clay layers shows noticeable effect and sharp increase up to about two times especially in longer piles. Besides, a sensible reduction in the seismic response and the stresses in the beam-column connection between 23-36 percent are achieved that ensures better seismic behavior of the structures.